110th Anniversary: Modeling National Power Flow Systems through the Energy Hub Approach

© 2019 American Chemical Society.In this work, a large-scale modeling framework for the Mexican electricity system is developed based on the energy hub concept. The hub consists of nine smaller hubs, each one describing a control region of the country. The interface between energy carriers and loads is modeled as the product of coupling matrices. Natural gas, fuel oil, diesel, uranium, and coal were regarded as inputs, which are converted into electricity by available technologies. Power outputs are used mainly to meet the demand. We also considered hydroelectric, wind, and geothermal power contributions as well as export, import, and internal power transmission. A nonlinear programming problem was formulated and solved with real data for a 1 h scenario. Constraints on clean technologies' participation and operation limits were taken into consideration. Results provide optimal flows and dispatch of the inputs such that an economic objective function is minimized while the demand of each region is satisfied. The combined cycle working with natural gas was the predominant process to produce electricity. Renewable sources played an important role in the fulfillment of the country's energy demand. The nationwide energy hub developed in this work is a potential tool for planning and renewable resource integration studies.

110th Anniversary: Modeling National Power Flow Systems through the Energy Hub Approach Academic Article in Scopus